Organisations will now be able to bring their industrial control systems technology into the modern era and realise the benefits of increased connectivity while also reducing the risk of cyber attack

BAE Systems today announces the launch of IndustrialProtect, a military-grade solution, to the marketplace. The solution is designed to protect the industrial control systems of organisations such as power plants, oil refineries or automated manufacturing plants from cyber attack, allowing them to modernise their legacy systems as well as improving their security.

The major applications for the IndustrialProtect solution will be organisations within the Defence, Energy, Utilities and Natural Resources sectors, where industrial control systems are integral to their efficiency, growth and productivity. All these organisations form part of the National Critical Infrastructure, a prime target for cyber attacks. Recent attacks like Shamoon or those on the Korean peninsula illustrate just how critical it is for these organisations to protect their networks.

The security risks to these organisations can also have “real-world” impacts – affecting not only the safety and ability of the organisation to operate, but also the potential to cause significant economic, human and environmental harm should a security breach incident occur.

IndustrialProtect is launching at a time when operational networks are increasingly vulnerable. The ongoing convergence of Operational Technology (OT) and enterprise Information Technology (IT) networks is bringing great benefits, such as increased automation, more centralised key functions and better management information. But the convergence also creates greater risk as it increases the opportunity for attack through unauthorised access or espionage and the manipulation of data and data loss caused by both targeted and non-targeted attacks.

IndustrialProtect effectively mitigates these risks by using cutting-edge technology to ensure the security of industrial control systems. It is the only solution that provides all of the necessary security controls in a single appliance, and also delivers unrivalled security enforcement while also enabling greater business efficiency, secure information sharing and connectivity.

“National Critical Infrastructure organisations are increasingly concerned about securing their business critical operations. The larger and more diverse the organisation, the greater the number of network vulnerabilities for cyber attackers to exploit. IndustrialProtect addresses key areas where traditional approaches are proving ineffective, simultaneously enabling efficient business processes and protecting against the modern cyber threat. It verifies the identity of the individual or system sending information, that the information is received is as it was sent and also that the content is intended and appropriate for the receiving system. Critical systems are thereby protected from access, manipulation and control by those intending to carry out harm through disruption and sabotage.

“This is the first time this type of solution has been available for organisations in the critical national infrastructure. It provides a means to enable information flows that greatly increase business efficiency and operational effectiveness while protecting critical operational networks from attack.”

Unlike many security enforcement solutions, IndustrialProtect is custom-designed from a basic component level and built-in hardware by a security-approved supply chain. It therefore provides higher performance, reliability and security, particularly when compared to solutions based on mainstream software components.IndustrialProtect achieves this through five key features:

Implementation of network segmentation without breaking critical business process

Prevention of unauthorised systems from exchanging information

Assurance that the integrity of information is preserved from source to destination

Transparency to existing systems and a very low attack surface

Full remote management from the industrial control system and back to the system